A MEMBER of staff at Cotswold Wildlife Park And Gardens has donated 30 centimetres of her hair to one of her favourite charities – the Little Princess Trust.

Leanne Williams, the finance and administration assistant at the park, has been growing her hair for the past 18 months especially for the charity.

The Little Princess Trust provides real hair wigs free of charge to children across the UK and Ireland who have lost their own hair due to cancer treatment and other illnesses.

The haircut took place in the park’s interactive Lemur exhibit, Madagascar, where Leanne had an audience of inquisitive free-roaming ring-tailed and red-bellied lemurs watching, as well as her colleagues.

One of the park’s gardeners, Mandy Hicks, offered her topiary skills to help cut Leanne’s hair with her trusty pair of garden shears, but Leanne opted for the services of professional hairdresser, Lauren Griffin, from Essence Hair Salon, based in Bourton-on-the-Water, who generously volunteered her time for the fundraising event.

The Little Princess Trust recently received worldwide attention when Harry Styles donated his hair to the charity.

Harry’s first acting role in the film Dunkirk required a drastic haircut, resulting in the donation to the charity.

Harry also performed a secret gig in London earlier this year and donated all the proceeds from the show to the Little Princess Trust.

As well as donating her hair, Leanne is hoping to raise funds for the charity.

It takes seven to 10 hair donations to make just one single wig and the cost to make one wig can be more than ?£500.

Leanne said: “I first heard about the Little Princess Trust when a friend told me she had donated her hair.

“I’ve always had fairly long hair and wanted it cut quite short but when I heard about the charity and the work they were doing, I decided to keep growing it.

“So for the past 18 months, I’ve grown my hair in order to donate the ideal length of approximately 30cm.

“Around 10cm of hair is lost due to the knotting process to make the wig so the longer the hair the better.”

“I really hope my hair will make a big difference and contribute towards the amazing work the Little Princess Trust do.”

Helen Creese, from the Little Princess Trust said: “We are delighted to hear that Leanne has decided to cut her hair and donate it to the Little Princess Trust. We are hugely grateful.

Visit uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=Leanne12.